Concrete Angel
by LittleCanadianGirl
Summary: Madeline (fem!Canada) is a seven-year old girl with an abusive parent. She meets her only friend Gilbert (Prussia) one day at school, making it the happiest day of her life. A tragedy occurs that very night. (Warning: Character death, slightly bloody descriptions) Based on "Concrete Angel" by Martina Mcbride


Concrete Angel

A seven year old girl walks down a street holding a tattered brown bag that holds the lunch that she packed for herself. Her tiny fingers grip the bag as hard as they can so that the bag won't fall to the ground and ruin the contents inside. A slight limp can be detected as she walks, carefully hidden by her slow, careful steps. Her light purple eyes hide the pain the bruises she has are causing. A red hoodie covers her well, hiding all the bruises and cuts littered all over her body. She's also wearing a dirty dark red skirt that has dark brown stains all over it. It's the same outfit she wore yesterday, and the day before that.

_She walks to school with the lunch she packed_

_Nobody knows what she's holding back_

_Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday_

_She hides the bruises with the linen and lace_

A school comes into view as the girl reaches the end of the street. Hundreds of children are milling around in front of it, waving good-bye to their parents or running around with their friends. A couple of them run into the little girl, but none of them say sorry. As she picks herself up from the ground, she sees another little girl smiling and hugging her mama good-bye. A few tears form in the light purple eyes of the little girl. Her mother would never hug her like that.

Just then, a two girls around her age walk by her, then stop. One has long, platinum blond hair, with an blank expression on her pale face. She is wearing a dark purple dress coupled black shoes and white socks. A dark purple bow adorns her hair, completing her look. The other girl seems a bit older, with short hair the same color as the other one. This one looked nervous, as though she would burst into tears any second. She was wearing a yellow headband, with overalls and a white shirt. These girls were named Natalia and Katyusha Braginsky, from Belarus and Ukraine, respectively.

The cold girl named Natalia spoke.

"You, you're Matvey Williams?"

The girl, whose name was actually Madeline made an attempt to speak, but the girl interrupted her before she could.

"You spoke to my brother, Ivan, didn't you? Yesterday at lunch?"

"N-no, I didn't. I've never talked to him."

"You are a liar. I was watching."

"You must have gotten me confused with someone. I've never s-spoken to him!" Madeline tried to protest.

"If I say you did, you did. And no one talks to my precious brother but me!" A mad look entered the girls eyes.

"Natalia, maybe you should calm down. Maybe it was someone else?" The older girl tried to reason with the mad girl.

"No. She spoke with Ivan. If she spoke with Ivan, then she must die!"

"Maybe not…"

Madeline quietly creeped away when the two girls were bickering. She didn't want to face Natalia's fury today. The bruises her mother gave her yesterday still hurt a lot, and she didn't want to cry before everyone.

Madeline made her way to her classroom, and sat down in her usual seat, at the corner of the back row, right next to the window. She loved to watch the birds outside of the window flying around and chirping happily. It made her forget all the pain in her life. The birds were always so cheerful and free, unlike her.

Her teacher was a young Chinese woman named Wang Yue. It was her first year teaching at this school, and all of her students loved her. She would often bring snacks into class to share with them, and tell them ancient chinese legends.

Madeline enjoyed history class with the Chinese woman, because she was always so nice to her. The snacks she brought always filled her constantly empty stomach a little, and stopped it from growling.

When Wang Yue handed out the worksheets for the students to complete, she noticed something strange with Madeline. When she tapped the girl on the shoulder, the girl had jumped and winced at the touch. She had coiled away from her hand, then calmed down enough to take the sheet. Wang Yue then walked to her desk and started checking the students' homework from the night before.

Wang Yue often wondered if Madeline had trouble with bullies, or perhaps at home, but didn't ask. She didn't want to seem intrusive to her student. And anyways, the girl was so sweet and quiet, there couldn't possibly be anyone who would want to pick on her, and she couldn't possibly be a nuisance to her parents. She always had perfect grades and never caused trouble. Wang Yue shook her head a little as she continued marking. _Funny, _she thought, _this is Madeline's paper. _

_The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask_

_It's hard to see the pain behind the mask_

_Bearing the burden of a secret storm_

_Sometimes she wishes she was never born_

That day was a good day for Madeline. At school, no one had made fun of her tiny lunch in her old brown bag. She had even made a friend of sorts.

_"Who are you?" A strange silver haired boy had asked her at lunch. _

_"M-Madeline… Madeline Williams." She had mumbled. _

_"Awesome! Let's be friends!" _

_The boy had thrust his pale skinned hand at her, his red eyes eager and happy. To Madeline, he seemed like the type that the teachers would despair at. Loud, obnoxious, and bursting with energy._

_"Sure…" Her tiny hand was placed in his. _

_He had then pulled her all around the playground, playing with her in the sandbox, then pushing her vigorously on the swings. Everything to him was either "Awesome" or "Unawesome". In fact, almost every single one of his sentences seemed to contain one or the other of the two words. _

_Madeline had more fun then she had ever had in years, before her father had taken Alfred and moved to the US. Before her mother had snapped and taken to hitting her in fits of rage. _

_When recess ended, Madeline was secretly disappointed, and hoped that she would see the strange boy again. _Of course, _she told herself, _it's all wishful thinking. _No one ever remembered her the second time they saw her. _

_But still, it was nice to dream, right?_

Madeline carefully opened the heavy brown door to her home. Inside, not a single light was open and all the curtains were drawn closed. Loud, rumbling snores could be heard from her mothers door. She was safe for now.

Madeline stepped up the stairs to her room silently, to avoid disturbing her mother. She stared out the window, into the empty house across from hers.

Or, at least, the formerly empty house.

A silver haired boy was currently waving vigorously at her from the window across from hers.

"Hey! Hey! Madeline! It's so awesome to see you again!" He shouted as he waved.

She waved her hand a little at him.

"I didn't knew you awesomely lived across from the awesome me!"

"And I didn't know anyone lived across from me."

The boy seemed stumped for a second.

"I awesomely moved her with my _Mutti_ (1) and_ Vati _(2) and my unawesome little _bruder _(3) this morning!"

"I see…"

The two friends chatted for hours, until the sky was dark. Even then, they kept on talking. Suddenly, the door to Madeline's room opened. Her mother was awake.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I…" A slap resonated through the room.

"You don't need to answer."

Her mother proceeded to close the curtains to her room. Madeline tried to let Gilbert see her, but he had disappeared.

"You little bitch!"

Madeline's mother kicked the little girl in the ribs, as hard as she can. The tiny figure flew across the room into the wall. A couple sickening cracks could be heard as she slid to the ground. Blood dribbled from her mouth, as her mother ascended upon her.

In the next two hours, Madeline could only feel pain. Through her clouded mind, she could feel her mother stomp on her arms and legs, possibly breaking an arm and a leg, then using a knife or some other sharp instrument to cut her back. That was when she screamed then passed out. She was sure she wouldn't make it through the night.

_Somebody cries in the middle of the night_

_The neighbors hear but they turn out the light_

_A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate_

_When morning comes it will be too late_

Gilbert heard a shrill scream coming from Madeline's house. He ran over to his window and saw that her shades were drawn and that no light was coming from inside. A sickening crack sounded, and by then, Gilbert knew something was really wrong.

He ran down stairs to where he and his family were having dinner, then yelled at his Vati to call the police. His little brother Ludwig seemed rather confused, a rare emotion in his usually stoic face. His Mutti seemed about to scold him for leaving dinner without notice.

His Vati asked him, in his deep voice. "Why do I need to call the police?"

"There's a little girl in the house next door, and her mom's unawesomely hitting her!" Gilbert yelled at his father.

That was what made his father call the police.

After a few minutes, a white ambulance and a police car stops in front of Madeline's home. Gilbert was told not to go in, and that he had to go to bed.

Instead of going to bed, he watched everything from his window.

He saw an officer opening the curtains for a little air, and was shocked at the sight inside.

Madeline was crumpled to the floor, blood pooling around her. Her pretty blonde hair was stained red with her own blood, and her limbs were in several odd positions that were not normal. Gilbert saw a tall, scary looking blonde officer grunt something at a shorter, also blond officer. The shorter officer had then shrieked a little, then immediately called for someone to came inspect the body, while they looked for the mother of Madeline, who had done this to her.

Gilbert had tears running down his face as he finally looked away.

He glared at Madeline's mother as she was pulled into a police car, kicking and screaming with her hands handcuffed behind her back.

The funeral was held two weeks later, with only a few people attending. Her teacher, Wang Yue was present, as was Gilbert with his family. All members attending the funeral were crying, even Ludwig, who didn't know what had happened. They all stood behind a black tombstone with an angel on top of it. Gilbert noted that the angel looked a bit like Madeline.

After a while, everyone had left but Gilbert.

He kneeled down beside the black tombstone.

"Maddie, I don't know if you can hear me or not but hopefully you can. I'm really sorry for what happened. I really am. But I want you to know that everything's good for you now, because you're in the hands of God.

With that, Gilbert turned away from the tombstone, with a single tear running down his pale cheek.

He met with his family, and left with them.

_A statue stands in a shaded place_

_An angel girl with an upturned face_

_A name is written on a polished rock_

_A broken heart that the world forgot_

Back at the graveyard, and young girl is sitting in a tree. None of the people at the graveyard can see her, or hear her. The invisible girl is the spirit Madeline Williams, for her last moments on Earth before her spirit leaves.

No one who knew her would be able to tell that that girl was Madeline Williams. Her formerly dirty tangled hair was a beautiful golden shade that shone under the sunlight. Gone were the bruises and cuts. Her dirty clothes were gone, replaced with a simple white dress that was clean, with not a smudge of dirt or blood. Her amethyst eyes shine with a happiness she didn't have before.

She smiled at Gilbert's retreating form and his family. She waved, even though he couldn't possibly see her.

"Thank you for being the only friend I ever had."

With that, the blond girl opened her pure white wings, and soared off.

From a black car, Gilbert Beilischmidt could have sworn he saw an angel girl fly off into the heavens. He waved at the angel girl from the car.

_Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone_

_In a world that she can't rise above_

_But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place_

_Where she's loved concrete angel_

Author's note: I cried while writing this. I watched the music video a few days ago, and cried while watching that. Then cried again writing this. Anyways, I don't own Hetalia or "Concrete Angel" by Martina Mcbride. This is my first story, so please don't be too mean to me or flame. Thank you.

(1) Mutti: Mom/Mother

(2) Vati: Dad/ Father

(3) Bruder: Brother


End file.
